What’s amazing to me to think about is how getting a free long distance call itself was a cool achievement then. (I’m aware that like all hacking, phreaking was in large part about the challenge rather than like “theft of service” but still.)
I am old enough to remember that world for sure, and since we were poor long distance DID seem like a luxury good when I was a kid! But it’s just funny today since anyone who wants a voice call with anyone on earth, they can have one for free with like 30 different mainstream “apps.”
"The stark shift happened fast; in 1995, the number of pay phones in the U.S. peaked at 2.6 million, Slate reported in 2022. In less than three decades, that's dwindled to fewer than 100,000."